Thursday, April 28, 2011

Just one more day until Team Holland and Eden heads out for our 6th annual March for Babies! If you are interested in supporting our team and helping us reach our goal, now is the time to make your donations. Thank you so much for your support in our efforts over the years!

As soon as this big event is behind us, I will fill you in on the details of our recent major, exciting, life-changing news...

Monday, April 25, 2011

Thursday, April 14, 2011

It's that time of year again! In a little more than two weeks, Team Holland and Eden will once again be hitting the street to March for Babies.

I watched this video for the first time in a long time and was surprised at the emotion I felt looking at pictures of the girls in the NICU. Holland and Eden will turn 7 this summer, and in some ways I feel so far removed from that time in our lives. But, when I take the time to pause and reflect, I am instantly transported back there and I feel...lucky and strong. I cannot believe that we survived such an ordeal, and that we are now fairly emotionally intact and happy.

We have committed to doing the walk again this year as a celebration of our beautiful girls, with the continued hope that our donations will be put to good use, and someday fewer babies will be born too soon.

Friday, April 01, 2011

I am sure that people get tired of reading about my sick kids, probably just as much as I get sick of writing about it, but here we are again.

Eden has been sick all week with a fever, sore throat, and severe congestion. It appears to be viral, seeing as how the strep test was negative and the antibiotics don't seem to be helping. She missed the whole week of school, and today is the first day that is finally feeling a little better. Just as she seems to be on the upswing, Holland caught it. She complained of a headache and sore throat yesterday morning, but didn't have a fever and was playing cheerfully, so I sent her to school. Bad call. They called me an hour later to pick her up. By the time I got her home her fever was up to 102.3 and she was miserable. So, it appears that we are looking at another 3-4 days of misery, assuming she has the same illness as Eden.

Have I mentioned that we are ready for Spring and a break in all this sickness we have had this winter??? I think that we have had a really bad cold/flu season this year, just based on the sheer number of serious illnesses we have had. However, my girls are growing up and getting stronger, and at least these yucky viruses don't put us in the hospital anymore. I am thankful that we aren't spending the whole winter inpatient!

There have been a few breaks between sicknesses, and some major developments that bear mentioning...

I became a brunette! Chances are that I will probably go back to blonde in the summer, but it's fun for a change of pace.

We went to a Pinkalicious cupcake social and saw Pinkalicious The Musical. We bought the soundtrack and it is a MAJOR hit at our house. I had those songs stuck in my head for weeks.

Eden got a new manual wheelchair, a Zippie Zone...in pink of course. It took 6 months to complete the process, but it was fully covered between our private insurance and CSHC. We haven't had a whole lot of time to practice using it yet, but she is already pretty good at pushing and steering it. Our long-term goal is that she will continue to use her power chair when we are outdoors or for longer distances, but will use the manual chair in smaller settings (like at school). So far, we are happy with it. Eden sits well in it and it is pretty easy for her to maneuver. It puts her a eye-level with her peers, and while slightly tall for her now, will eventually be good for her learning to transfer (particularly to the potty) independently. I will post a more thorough review in the future when we have had more of a chance to use it.

Holland got a new bike and we have had a couple of nice days to ride it!

Both girls got new glasses! Eden picked out a pair of pink and purple Flexon frames, which we hope will be good because they are flexible and will not need as many adjustments as her old pair. They look beautiful on her, but the jury is still out on whether they will hold up for her. We shall see. Holland picked out a pair of chunky blue frames, that are very stylish and certainly make a bold statement...very her. I was honestly a little hesitant about them because I worried they were too heavy for her delicate features and would hide her face too much, but I decided to let her choose. She has always had definitely opinions on what she likes, mindless of what other people might think, and I really admire her for that. Now that I have had a week to get used to them, I really like them. I think they suit her and she gets a lot of compliments:-) Of course, they are both just so cute anyway...if I do say so myself.